Clients & agencies
One record per agency or direct client with NDA, signed PO, and invoices.
Translation freelance · Finance organizing
A finance workspace for freelance translators and localizers
Your costs run from a Trados or memoQ license to terminology subscriptions, sworn-translation and certification fees, and the proofreader you bring in for big files. Your income arrives from agencies and direct clients, often in different currencies and net of agency commission. Cash Workspace gives you one place to record invoices per client with multi-currency notes, categorize translation-specific costs, and attach NDAs and signed purchase orders.
The problem
Why translation finances are hard to keep straight
Cross-border income, multiple currencies, agency commissions, and specialized tool costs make a translator's books unusually fiddly to organize.
- Invoices arrive in several currencies and you can't recall what each was worth.
- Agency commission gets deducted before you're paid, so the net is unclear later.
- CAT-tool and terminology subscriptions renew without being recorded.
- Certification and sworn-translation fees never make it into any expense record.
- Signed POs and NDAs are scattered when an agency queries a job.
The workflow
Keep a translation business organized
Record invoices and costs the same way so multi-currency income and tool spend stay reconcilable.
- 1
Add each client or agency
Create a record per agency or direct client and attach the NDA and signed PO.
- 2
Record invoices with currency notes
Log each invoice with its currency, amount, and a note on any agency commission deducted.
- 3
Set a status
Mark each invoice sent, paid, or overdue and update as payments land.
- 4
Categorize tool and certification costs
Record CAT-tool licenses, terminology subscriptions, and certification fees with receipts.
- 5
File cross-border records
Keep income and PO records in fiscal-year folders for cross-border review.
Record structure
What to record for each invoice and cost
A consistent field set keeps multi-currency income and specialized costs reconcilable.
- Client / agency
- Who the work is for, kept as one record.
- Currency
- The invoice currency, noted so totals don't blur across currencies.
- Commission note
- Any agency commission deducted, so the net is recorded.
- Status
- Sent, paid, or overdue.
- Expense category
- CAT-tool license (Trados, memoQ), terminology subscription, certification/sworn fee, proofreader subcontractor.
- Vendor / subcontractor
- The tool provider or proofreader behind the cost.
- Amount and date
- What you paid and when, for the right fiscal period.
- NDA / PO
- Attached NDA and signed purchase order for the job.
Example setup
An example translation business setup
One way to organize agencies, currencies, and tool costs together.
Invoices by currency
Invoices recorded with their currency and any commission deducted noted.
CAT tools & subscriptions
Trados, memoQ, and terminology subscriptions recorded each cycle.
Certification & cross-border records
Certification and sworn-translation fees plus cross-border income filed by year.
Common mistakes
Mistakes translators make
- Recording invoice amounts without noting the currency, so totals don't add up.
- Forgetting agency commission deductions, leaving the net income unclear.
- Letting CAT-tool licenses renew without recording them as costs.
- Never logging certification or sworn-translation fees as expenses.
- Scattering NDAs and POs so an agency query takes ages to answer.
How it helps
How Cash Workspace helps
Multi-currency notes
Record each invoice with its currency and any commission deducted so income is clear later.
Translation-specific categories
Categorize CAT-tool licenses, terminology subscriptions, and certification fees with receipts.
NDAs and POs attached
Attach the NDA and signed purchase order to each client so documents and jobs stay together.
Fiscal-year folders
Keep cross-border income and PO records together for a clean year-end review.
Related
Related translation finance workflows
Copywriter workspace
The sibling setup for content professionals.
Per-client invoice archive
Archive each agency's invoices in one place.
Software receipt folder
File CAT-tool and subscription receipts by year.
Self-bookkeeping workspace
Do your own books with an organized structure.
All finance workflows
Browse the full Cash Workspace workflow library.
FAQ
Translator finance workspace FAQ
- Can I record invoices in different currencies?
- Yes. Record each invoice with its currency and amount, and add a note for any agency commission deducted, so multi-currency income stays clear when you review the year.
- Does Cash Workspace convert currencies for me?
- No. It records the currency you note alongside each invoice; it does not perform conversions or calculations. For exchange-rate treatment, confirm with a qualified professional.
- Where do NDAs and POs go?
- Attach the NDA and signed purchase order to the client record for that agency or direct client, so the documents stay with the jobs they belong to.
Organizing help — not tax, accounting, or legal guidance
Cash Workspace is a free workspace for organizing invoices, expenses, receipts, clients, and documents. This page is organizing guidance only — not tax, accounting, legal, or bookkeeping guidance. Cash Workspace does not connect to your bank, does not scan or read your receipts for you, and does not move or collect payments. Whether an expense is deductible depends on your situation, so confirm it with a qualified accountant or tax professional.
Organize cross-border translation income
Start a free workspace and record your agency and direct-client invoices with currency notes, plus your CAT-tool costs and POs, so nothing gets lost across currencies and clients.